Iffy prognosis

In “Midlevel Health Jobs Shrink,” Wall Street Journal reporter Ben Casselman analyzes a trend I noted back in 2011. In “Living too high off the hog” (March 3, 2011) I warned that while Springfield’s booming health care economy was sound enough over the short term, its longer-term prognosis is not so positive. The boom relies on inefficiencies -- fee-for-service models that encourage over-use, over-testing, inefficient administration – that employers and state and federal governments are working hard to eliminate.

Casselman notes that the same factors that eliminated many formerly secure middle-skill jobs in manufacturing and office such as automation and outsourcing are doing the same thing to such jobs as such as licensed practical nurses and medical-records clerks.

Casselman’s article is behind the WSJ’s pay wall (these days it takes money to read about money) but not to worry -- his won't be the last article on this trend.